


Losing Home

by princessFanona



Series: Miraculous Assassins [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Assassin AU, Disfigurement, Kidnapping, Original Character Death(s), Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-05-03 00:43:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5270159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessFanona/pseuds/princessFanona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While enjoying her holidays in the City that Never Sleeps, Marinette finds that NYC is better than she could ever imagine.  What she doesn't know is that there's more than meets the eye in this city, things much darker than her home in Paris.  Caught in the underbelly of AKUMA, Marinette fights to survive and make it home.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/>Tags will update with chapter postings as needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to [consultingviking](http://consultingviking.tumblr.com) and my zucchini for helping me find a new story that I can start to work on again. This story is going to get dark really fast and might become triggery for some. I promise to tag everything once I know for sure how everything will play out. More notes at the end for a possible trigger that would be spoilers.

Marinette couldn’t get over the way everything lit up.  She stares and stares and spins to stare some more at the giant billboards flashing in bright, high definition.  Times Square is far better than what those movies made it out to be, she thinks to herself.

“Look, mon chou, you can be on the billboards,” Sabine said, focusing the young teen.  Spinning, Marinette gasps when she sees what her mom pointed out.  Dashing ahead, into the crowd, Marinette climbs the red bleachers and waves as the billboard mimics her and the other tourists. 

Alya would love to see this, Marinette thinks to herself before wilting.  It had been three months since Alya, her best friend since kindergarten went missing.  No trace, nothing, almost as if she walked out of her own life never to be seen again.  Marinette shakes the thought away, holding up her cell to take a picture as her parents came up behind her.  Saving three, just in case, the family move away to let others in.

“Alright, it’s almost time for our show, we better start heading over,” Tom says, pushing his family away.

“What play are we seeing?” Marinette asks, not for the first time. 

“It’s a surprise,” her dad answers, laughing.

“Why won’t you just tell me already?” Marinette whines.

Her mom breaks out in laughter, pulling out a red cloth.  “Come on, you know the drill, no peeking.”

“Fine,” Marinette concedes, closing her eyes as the soft fabric is tied.  She feels both parents take a hand each, linking arms, and trusts them to start walking.  They used to do this with her for as long as she can remember, starting with the first pokemon movie.  She can usually walk just fine with her parents like this but NYC is so much busier with so many people that her dad ends up picking her up and carrying her on his back for a few blocks.  She can hear both her parents laughing and chatting the entire way so she isn’t concerned. 

“Oh, is this the line?” Sabine asks, sounding worried.  Marinette thinks they’ve stopped walking, it’s hard to tell.

“I’m not sure, we should probably ask,” Tom comments, letting Marinette down.  He puts an arm around Marinette as she assumes her mom is asking someone out of her hearing range.

“What time does the show start?” Marinette asks.

“Hmmm, in about an hour,” Tom answers.  “The tickets said to arrive this early, if this _is_ the line, I can understand why.”

“Can I take the blindfold off yet?” Marinette asks, tugging at the corner.  A light hand slaps it away.

“No you cannot, this is the line, apparently they don’t open the doors for another half hour so we just need to wait here,” Sabine says.

“Hmm, I’m glad we did, the line just doubled,” Tom comments.

“Really? Can I see?” Marinette asks, jumping in excitement.

“No that’s cheating,” her dad laughs.

“Ugh, fine, but now I can’t even distract myself on my phone.” She complains.

“You don’t need your eyes to experience a city like this, use your ears more,” Sabine chides. Marinette huffs but does in fact start listening.  The city is far louder than Paris, even on the busiest nights of tourist season.  She can hear the people chatting around her and the cars driving past.  She counts a few scattered car horns blasting and shouting in various languages.  A biker rides past, a card thrumming in the spokes.  A door must open nearby as an exceptionally loud group joins the street.  She doesn’t understand all of it due to the language barrier and distance, but she can’t imagine what about as the conversation revolves around red socks and other New Yorkers.  (Myène once made a presentation on colloquial names for people based on region when viewed by others, apparently most of the States refer to New Yorkers as Yanks.)  

It wasn’t long before Marinette felt her dad nudge her forward.  “Can I take the blindfold off now?”

“Wait just a little more, mon chou.” Tom laughs. 

Marinette sighs before shifting gears and bouncing in excitement.  What felt like ages after, and the terrifying climb up and down very steep steps, the blindfold was removed.  Before her is the stage for Les Misérables.  She couldn’t contain her squeal of excitement as she jumped up and down.

“Are we really here? Are we really seeing Les Mis? Pinch me I must be dreaming,” Marinette says as her parents skillfully maneuver her into her seat.

“Yes, we’re here and we’re really seeing Les Mis, now what do you want as a souvenir?” Sabine laughs.

“I think I’ll wait till the end to decide,” Marinette answers, getting comfortable in the high seats.  The nearby seats fill quickly, the audience more jubilant as they wait. Soon enough the lights dim and an announcer reminds the audience of turning electronics off as photography and filming are not permitted.  He makes some safety announcements as well and then the play starts.

It’s incredible to watch and indescribable to describe.  Marinette saw the movie and read the original book for a project but seeing it live on Broadway better and more thrilling by far.  The actors performed fantastically, the music was beautiful, and the stage props and backdrops were stunning.  It was impressive to enjoy the entire show at such a great vantage point. 

At the end of the play, Marinette picks a t-shirt with the logo across the top.  Outside the theater, she pulls out her phone to make a post online about the show.  She’s excitedly tapping out her love for Enjolras as she follows her parents to a less busy street when there’s suddenly a swarm of people.

Looking up, she can barely see her dad who’s barely five feet away and calls out for him.  He turns and his eyes widen in terror as someone slaps a cloth over her mouth.

“Marinette! Get out of the way! Let my daughter go!  Marinette!” Tom shouts over the drone of the crowd.  Marinette fights the hold of her captor, dropping the Les Mis bag, trying to scream.  Her vision goes dark as she’s lifted from the ground and tossed into a van that pulls up from seemingly nowhere.  The last thing she hears is the screaming of her name from her parents but even that fades to silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Marinette get's kidnapped and loses consciousness when tossed into a van.
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://princessfanonanona.tumblr.com)


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bolded sections indicate that the speech is in English as the rest is in French due to it still being from Marinette's perspective. Thanks again [consultingviking](http://consultingviking.tumblr.com) who helped me finish this chapter. This is going to be more akin to how long each chapter is going to be as the prologue was so very short.

Chapter One

_Bdum.  Bdum bdum._  Marinette groans from mild discomfort of the hard ridges digging in with every bounce. She freezes when she realizes her hands are tied together.  Her eyes snap open, the memory of her dad’s panic fresh in her mind, and sees black.  She tries to sit up, stretch her legs, to move and is met with a strange force pinning her down, like a blanket wrapped too tight.

**“Oy, wouldj’ya stop mov’in y’git,”** A nasally voice says just before she’s hit hard in the stomach, probably from being kicked.  She cries out from the shock as much as the pain, curling up as tight as possible within her confines.  She receives another kick with a **“Wouldj’ya shut up!”** that’s hard enough that her back hits the wall of the van.

**“Stop kickin’er, we won’t get paid as much if she’s damaged.”** Another, deeper voice says.  Marinette bites her lip, curling even tighter, and tries not to breathe, to stay as quiet as possible.

The van lurches suddenly, sending her tumbling end over head causing stabbing pain in her neck and shoulder.

**“Watch where yer goin’, you almost killed her!”** The deep voice calls says.  Two large hands grab her and hoist her up so that she’s sitting in a corner.  She realizes with a start that she’s wrapped in a bag that’s tied at her feet.

**“Sorry, Jay,”** a third voice says.  This one sounds younger than the other two.

**“Jus’keep yer eyes on th’road, an’ be careful on those turns,”** Jay says.

Marinette doesn’t understand his heavy accent very well but figures out that wherever these men were taking her, she needs to be alive and unhurt.  Not knowing what to do with this information, she braces herself as well as she could in her corner to prevent falling, staying as small as possible.  She wonders how long it’s been since she was taken.  She can’t hear anything past the engine of the van and the bumps they hit.  She doesn’t know what to do, what to think, she’s scared and wants to go home.  She wishes she never left Paris.  That she was at home watching TV with her parents.

Oh god, her parents.  They must be worried sick.  She swallows back a sob, burying her head into the space between her arms and knees, tied hands above her head.  Did they contact the police?  Get in touch with someone that could look for her?  She remembers, idly, of the girl that went missing abroad in Germany and how it became an international concern.  She imagines it’s her face on the news, her name being spoken, her story being told.

Marinette chokes on a sob before swallowing the emotions down.  She’s smart, she can think her way out from this.  All she has to do is get away from them, get somewhere with people.  Her English may not be perfect, but she could find a way to get home.  She knows they need her alive and unhurt, an advantage she isn’t going to let slip.  A determined set to her lips, she vows she’ll get home, no matter the cost.

A few very painful bumps later, the van teeters in a slow turn.  It then dips strangely, Marinette can’t tell if it’s going up a hill or down, she has a sinking suspicion it’s down. Eventually, the van levels out again and after a very short, straight drive, they pull to a stop.

A sliding door is opened and several people get out, she guesses that it is only three people.  One of them grabs the tie on the bag, yanking her across the floor of the van.  Twisting into a very uncomfortable position, the bag is lifted onto the shoulders of one of her kidnappers and is carried somewhere.  She struggles only to find a position that isn’t straining her bruised shoulder further or threatening not to snap her ankle.

The bag holding her gets a rough jerk, **“Oy! Stop that wrigglin’!”**

**“I will stop as soon as I stop worrying about breaking my ankle!”** Marinette shouts out.

**“Who said you could talk back, I’ll snap yer neck,”** nasal-man grunts.

**“I thought you would lose money on me if I’m hurt, I wonder how much a broken bone or two would hurt the costs.”**  Marinette wonders aloud.   **“It might just be easier to let me walk myself.”**

**“Shut up,”** Jay says.  There’s a jerk and a swinging motion as she seems to be passed between her captors.   **“Keep quiet an’don’t move so much.”**

**“Fine, but if something breaks I’ll make sure it’s known I gave you a warning.”**  Marinette mutters.  She shifts one last time and her grip slips on the bag making her slump in a slightly less painful position.

She’s carried through three sets of doors and down an echoing hallway of some sort.  She listens as hard as she can, but it sounds like there’s only one set of footsteps.  It’s just her and this Jay.  From the previous conversations in the van, she thinks that he seems to be the nicest, or at the very least the most considerate of the situation.

**“Can I ask a question?”** Marinette asks as quietly as she can.  Jay doesn’t answer her which isn’t much of a surprise, but she continues anyway.   **“What’s going to happen to me?”** He doesn’t respond, which still isn’t much of a surprise to her.

Jay slows to a stop.   **“Depends on you,”** he says flatly before a door is opened.  The bag is tossed to the ground where she spills out in a mess of limbs.  Blinking, she looks around the room.  It’s gray metal; the walls, ceiling, floor, even the furniture.  There’s a large metal desk with a woman in a gray suit sitting behind it, black hair tied tightly in a bun.  She’s tapping at a computer and doesn’t glance at them.  There’s a door behind her.

Marinette moves so that she’s kneeling in a half crouch, ready to run.  She glances behind her to see a bulking man dressed in black and blue spandex with a black mask.  His hair is slicked back, gray eyes watching the woman at the desk.  Marinette eyes his utility belt, specifically the gun on the side.

**“You’re late.”** The woman behind the desk states.  She turns to look at them after a moment.  She stares at Marinette awkwardly.   **“What’s wrong with her neck?”**

**“Mishap on pickup, ma’am,”** Jay responds.  The woman gets up and walks over to stand over Marinette who meets her gaze without flinching.

**“Hmm…”** The woman makes some sort of judgement.   **“She’ll do.  Take her to the GTR.”**

Jay grabs her roughly on the bicep, yanking her up.  She squeaks in surprise, flailing, as she’s none too gently dragged out the door she came in.  The door closes with a soft click behind them and Marinette finds herself in a long corridor with several doors and separating hallways of the sides.  Everything is metal grey.

Jay doesn’t wait as he pulls her down the hallway and makes a left.  Marinette tries to count the doors and hallways, but quickly loses track.  They eventually come to a heavy looking metal door that’s bolted shut.

Jay loosens his hold on her arm slightly as he works on twisting open the deadbolt.  Marinette takes her chances, and twists out of his grip, spinning around his back and pulling his gun free.  What she doesn’t expect or account for is the weight of it which makes her stumble, nearly dropping it.  During her lapse in surprise, Jay’s fist connects with the side of her face sending her sprawling on the floor again; the gun skidding away.  He picks up the gun first, slotting it back in place as he finishes opening the door.

Marinette is still reeling from the pain blossoming across her face to think of trying to run.  Her captor yanks her to her feet again and shoves her through the door, locking it behind her with a **“Shouldn’t have done that.”**  Marinette looks dazedly at the door, rubbing her cheek as the lock is replaced with a loud thunk.  The inside of the door is perfectly smooth, the walls leading down the corridor the same.

“No point to staying here, then,” Marinette says to herself, shrugging her sore shoulder and starts walking.  The hallway isn’t perfectly straight and Marinette suspects that she’s walking downhill but has no way to test this theory.  There’s also no changes in the walls either, no cameras that she can see anyways.

After length of time, Marinette finds that her body seems to be feeling heavy.  Similar to when she used to do gymnastics and was so exhausted her body was too heavy to move.  This is different though.  She can’t put her finger on how it’s different, not yet.  She glances back over her shoulder and can no longer see the door she came through.  She feels a headache forming from her two pigtails…one pigtail.  She reaches up to find she lost one of her ribbons during the kidnapping.  She tugs loose the other ribbon, massaging her scalp as she keeps walking.  Tying the ribbon on her wrist, she makes sure that the stitching of her name is on the inside and unseen.

She didn't know how much further she walked when the vision became blurry.  She slumps against the wall, sliding down easily.  She feels exhausted and tired and scared and so very much alone.  The tears flowed down her cheeks as she hiccupped into sobbing.  Marinette presses a fist to her mouth trying to repress the scream that's building up in her. She cries and cries, the sound echoing back in distorted wails.

She stops crying after some time, tears spent and exhaustion numbing her emotions.  Marinette stares at the wall across from her unsure what to do. She wants to go home but she knows that's not an option at the moment. She thinks that there must be some point to this; that these people wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to build such a corridor.

It's her stomach that makes the decision for her.  The pain from hunger driving her to her feet to keep walking.  It's difficult for her to stand, her muscles protesting as if she were picking up heavy weights.  She does walk though, leaning along the wall.

It's slow going, and Marinette has to stop to breathe every once in a while.  That heavy feeling has only increased as she's walking.  She wanders idly if it's the aftereffects of the drug they used on her earlier or maybe it’s something in the air.  She throws the idea away.  No point to thinking such a thing, she just needs to keep going.  Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot.

She isn't paying attention when she stumbles into a larger room.  She blinks stupidly around the space.  She’s standing on a platform that extends around a drop space separated by railings.  Lining the walls facing the drop are rooms.  A few people stand around the platform, chatting or walking.  Marinette walks over to the railing to see an area like a cafeteria set up with more rooms and hallways underneath.

**“Hey new girl,”** a voice says behind her.  Marinette turns slowly to see a girl in a black cat suit with a glowing wifi symbol on her chest.  Purple gloves and boots match the symbol.  A black butterfly mask covers most of her face with her two-tone red hair left wild.

Marinette squints at the girl and the beauty mark over her eyebrow.  “Alya?”

**“The name’s Lady Wifi,”** the girl smiles.   **“I'm your new roommate.  Come on, I'll show you.”**

**“Uhh, okay,”** Marinette says, following Lady Wifi.  They walk along the railing, passing by other kids in various degrees of suits and masks.  Marinette notices that everyone she passes is the same age as her younger.  

**“You know,”** Lady Wifi starts, **“Out of all the kids brought in, you’re one of the oldest, also, I looked at the records, and you got through the corridor the fastest.”**

**“I what?”** Marinette blinks at the other girl blankly, filing the first comment away for later.

**“The corridor?  Everyone has to go through it to get here, only way in, only way out.  Most kids take forever to come through, you my dear broke the record at an hour even.”** Lady Wifi nods approvingly.   **“Anyways, this is our room, I already claimed the left side, so you can have the right.”**

Marinette walks into the small room.  There’s a low bed on each side of the room, a sink and mirror on the far wall, and a desk shoved into the corners next to the sink.  The bed on the left has a black and purple blanket on it. The desk adjoining it has several laptop screens and two keyboards.  The bed is littered with wires and small metal bits. Lady Wifi, pushes some of the wires out of her way to sit down.  Marinette walks over to the other bed that is dressed in grey sheets.  There’s nothing on her desk.

**“Is it just kids here?”** Marinette asks, sinking down on the bed.

**“Yeah, the only ones old enough to be considered adults graduated already, and they only bring in a new kid every other month so this time was you.”** Lady Wifi answers.  

**“Why kids?”** Marinette frowns.

**“Eh, something about how an adult’s bones would break under the pressure.”**

**“What?”**

**“Oh, I forgot to mention, the entire space here has an augmented gravitational force.”**

**“Sorry, my English is not so good.”**

**“Oh, no problem, basically it means that the gravity on the surface of Earth is one but the gravity here is three times that.  The strain of the extra gravity on someone who finished growing causes fractures and things.  So kids get trained in this now so they can have a chance to adapt.”** Lady Wifi explains.

**“When did you come in?”** Marinette asks.

**“To be honest? I don’t remember,”** she shrugs.   **“All I know is that I wasn’t expected, from what people tell me.  The records were deleted.”**

Marinette pushes herself further back on the bed, curling her knees to her chest.   **“They can do that?”**

**“Do what?”**

**“Just take kids and not get caught?”**

**“Well yeah, most of them don’t have any homes to go back to or are in the system already so it isn’t hard to slip a few out every once in a while.”**

**“System?”**

**“You know, the foster system,”** she shrugs again.   **“It’s not that big a deal, and even if they are from a family or something, their record gets wiped so no one can do anything.”**

Marinette’s heart stops.  She goes cold all over as a pit of dread fills her stomach.   **“My parents, they're going to find me.”**

Lady Wifi looks at Marinette with something that could be considered pity. **“No, they won't.  I personally wiped your file.  The video footage? Gone. Personal record, school files, citizenship, erased.  You no longer exist, no one is coming for you, so you might as well enjoy your time here.”**

Marinette stares blankly at the girl across from her.  The exhaustion and weight of the augmented gravity making her vision blur along the edges.  She blinks, trying to stay awake.

**“Oh, I forgot to mention.  Welcome to AKUMA, the leading underground mob and assassination ring of North America.”** Lady Wifi finishes with a blinding smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hangers again sorry not sorry. Join me on [tumblr](http://princessfanonanona.tumblr.com) and chat with me.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I find more plot bunnies in this chapter to throw in? Yes. Did I end up splitting this monster of a chapter so you get more chapters and I don't go insane? Yes. Do I thank [consultingviking](http://consultingviking.tumblr.com) for helping me figure out these plot bunnies? Hell yes! Go bother her on tumblr and thank her for putting up with my insane ideas.

Chapter Two

Marinette groans, rubbing her head.  She didn't sleep well last night, feeling squashed by an impossible weight even in her nightmares.  Her body hurts and is uncomfortably stiff.  Her stomache aches hollowly making her headache teeter on the edge of nausea.

Lady Wifi had dragged her out of bed and down the stairs to eat.  Most of the other kids were already down apparently. Lady Wifi said that there's a few kids that aren't adapting well and left it at that.

Marinette looks down at her plate.  It's filled with some form of orange and white mush.  Lady Wifi had given it to her with a just-eat-it look.

**“You need to eat, if you want to survive here you have to.  I know you haven't touched anything in almost two days.”** Lady Wifi says, looking at the full plate.

Marinette pushes the plate away.   **“Sorry, I prefer croissants and baguettes in the morning.”**

**“Well, excuse me princess, this isn't a French bakery.  Besides this has all the nutrients you need.”**

**“This is an insult to food.”**

**“Stop complaining and just eat your mush.”**

**“See! Even you call it mush!”**

**“Eh, I called mashed potatoes mush. Now eat.  You start PT today.”**

**“I start what now?”** Marinette pauses with a spoonful of white mush midair.

**“PT - physical therapy.  You gotta start training if you don't want to die from the pressure.”**

Marinette glares at her roommate but obeys.  The mush taste like dry powder and supplemental vitamins.  Thirsty, Marinette grabs her drink and chokes on the burnt flavor.

**“Finish and I'll get you a few bottles of water to go.”** Lady Wifi says.  She smiles sympathetically as she stands.  Marinette doesn’t hide her disgust as she finishes the drink.

**“That's horrible! This is an abomination that shouldn't even be considered food!”** Marinette exclaims after downing an entire water bottle.

Lady Wifi laughs, **“You can say that again, the food here always sucks, c’mon, let's go.”**

**“Ugh, if this is what I have to deal with, ki-”** Lady Wifi slaps her hand on Marinette’s mouth who freezes under the cold glare.

**“Never, ever, say the words kill and a target together in this building.”**

Marinette blinks and nods once.  After a moment of being studied, she’s released. Marinette opens her mouth to ask a question when alarms sound.  Small lights flash yellow and orange as loud clanging of metal gates are opened.

**“What’s going on?”** Marinette asks, terrified.

**“One of the kids died.”** Lady Wifi shrugs.

Marinette doesn’t think, she doubles back to the cafeteria to go up the stairs.  Lady Wifi follows her up the stairs and the two arrive just in time to see men in white hazmat suits remove a body from one of the other bedrooms.  The body is covered in a gray sheet and laid out on a stretcher.  Marinette looks up and meets the gaze of a boy dressed like a black cat.  His green eyes filled with pain before shifting to cold indifference. He disappears down the corridor first.  As the stretcher pass to follow, a hand falls into view.  It's sickly colored, almost as grey as the sheet, but that's not the worst part.  It's deformed and twisted as if everything but the skin and bones were wrung out like a wet dish towel.  

Marinette slaps a hand to her mouth as her stomach lurches.  Lady Wifi manages to get her to a bathroom where she promptly throws up in the toilet.

**“Now, why would you do something like that?”** Lady Wifi asks, crossing her arms as she leans against the wall.

**“Who was it?”** Marinette asks, wiping her mouth with toilet paper.

**“Why does that matter?”** Lady Wifi frowns.

**“Who. Was. It.”** Marinette doesn’t know why, but she feels like she needs to know.  Lady Wifi squints at her.  She seems to make a decision because she pulls out a cell phone and starts tapping at the screen.

**“Josh Candor, arrival date: four months ago, cause of death: refusal to eat led to organ failure under the gravitational pressure.”** Lady Wifi reads out. She gives Marinette a ‘happy now?’ look.

Marinette slumps against the stall wall.   **“Is that...does that happen often?”**

Lady Wifi pockets her phone and shrugs. **“Eh, often enough, it's not really a surprise though.  Not everyone makes it.”**

Marinette wants to throw up again but her stomach is achingly empty. **“And no one tries to help them?”**

**“Why? They weed out the weak faster this way.  If they can't get through training, then they're useless on the field.”**

Marinette lets her head bang on the wall.  Her headache is worse and that short run up the stairs seemed to have been more exhausting than she realized.  “I want to go home,” she whispers.

“I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that,” Lady Wifi says, surprising Marinette.

“You speak French?”

“Yeah, it's my native language, I can also speak Russian and archaic latin,” Lady Wifi shrugs.  “I don't recommend  speaking in any language outside of English, though, the people upstairs don't like it.”

“Oh okay,” Marinette says, getting to her feet.  The world spins once she's up.

“Here, drink some water,” Lady Wifi offers her a bottle. Marinette smiles her thanks and takes a drink. “Come on, let's get you to PT so you can go back to bed.”  Marinette sighs but agrees, she doesn't want to end up the same way as Josh.

Outside the door, Lady Wifi directs them back down the stairs and around the corner to a hallway.  They pass a pool, a track and a weight room.  Marinette pauses next to the window looking in on the track, a few kids ran at varying speeds.

**“Stop dawdling,”** Lady Wifi tugs Marinette away by her elbow.

**“How big is this place?”** Marinette asks.

**“Big enough, we’re located under the mountains so AKUMA just expands whenever it's needed.”** Lady Wifi says.  

**“Ah.”** Marinette says, tripping over her feet.  Lady Wifi pulls her into a small room without any windows.  There's a chair, a yoga matt, sponges and a large screen TV.  Lady Wifi tugs her to the chair and turns on the TV via her phone.

Marinette obediently follows the orders of the cartoon butterfly; stretching and lifting the sponges (they have weights inside) in time to really corny music.  Lady Wifi spends the time tapping away at her phone.  She comments if Marinette is positioned wrong but mostly ignores the two hour session.  By the time is done, she hurts all over and Lady Wifi has to help her get back to the cafeteria.

**“Ugh, that sucks,”** Marinette whines, slumping over the table.  She rubs lazily at her aching arms.  Sitting is nice, she thinks to herself as Lady Wifi flaunts off to get food.  She comes back with a tray covered in purple and gray mush. Marinette’s stomach lurches at the thought.

**“Uh, pass? Is there anything that even remotely looks like food?”** Marinette looks up at Lady Wifi.

**“Nope, unless you count the brown one which sorta looks like steak but smells more like the boys’ locker room.”** Lady Wifi sits down and starts eating her own piles of mush.   **“You get used to it pretty quickly.  And if you don’t well…”**

Marinette squints, burying her head in her arms, pushing the tray away.   **“I so did not need to remember that.”**

Lady Wifi shrugs, unapologetic.   **“Sorry, seen worse so nothing really fazes me.”**

**“I don’t even want to think about what that means.”**

Lady Wifi laughs, **“You keep that attitude going, you’ll never see sunlight again.”**

**“Ugh, you’re horrible,”** Marinette says after a moment, sitting up again.  Her back protests and her muscles ache as if she ran a 10k.  She ran one once with her dad a year ago, she know what it feels like to be underprepared for it and still push through.  Marinette swallows a sob that builds up at the memory, ignoring the ‘what if I never’s’ and eats a large spoonful.  It’s difficult to get down but she finishes.

A stray thought comes to Marinette, **“Who was the boy in the black cat outfit?”**

**“Who?”** Lady Wifi doesn’t look up from where she’s scrolling on her phone.

**“The blonde in the black catsuit that was there when Josh was taken?”**

**“Oh, that’s Chat Noir, he’s the oldest graduate within AKUMA.  He’s also the youngest assassin in the field.  He’s only here for continual training though his room is outside of here where us peasantry have to stay.”**

**“He can come and go as he pleases?”**

**“So can I, since I technically graduated myself.  I have to finish the physical training though, so that’s why you have me as your awesome roomie!”**

**“What do you have to do to graduate?”**

**“Assimilate with a Miraculous.  Don’t give me that look like it’s a walk in the park, the chance of someone having the genetic match is 1 in 10,000 but it’s a 89% pass fail rate for the casual person.  With training and testing it boosts up to a 47% success chance.”**

**“What happens if you fail?”**

**“You die.”**

**“Oh.”** Marinette looks down at her half eaten mush.  She doesn’t know what to make of that.  A hand lands on her shoulder.

**“Stop worrying, you have like five years to get there, no rush.”** Lady Wifi says with a smile.  Marinette tries to smile back but doesn’t respond.  She silently goes back to eating.

After the two have eaten, Lady Wifi helps Marinette back into bed and leaves with a comment about her own training, closing the door behind her.  Marinette curls into a ball and stares at the wall.  She doesn’t want to think to think about the horrible what if’s, so she forces her mind to think back, to find a way out.  She focuses on what she knows already.

There’s one way in and one way out.  Newbies have to walk in on their own and the only way you can leave is by graduating or on a stretcher.  Marinette shudders at the thought.  That means she has to take her chances and fight to survive and graduate.  If she were to assume the masks were a sign of graduating - Lady Wifi, Chat Noir, and Jay - that means the chances of success were better than looking at the numbers.  Marinette freezes in the bed when a realization occurs to her.

Lady Wifi has a cell phone with clear access to things outside of this place.  Marinette sits up slowly and spots the computers in the corner blinking.  Lady Wifi has access to the outside.

She eases out of the bed and makes her way painfully over to the desk chair.  She shakes the mouse and the screen wakes up.  There’s no login, thankfully, so Marinette searches and pulls up the web browser.  She’s about to log in to her email when the screen goes black.

“No, no, come on-” Marinette mutters.  Lady Wifi’s face pops up on all the screens startling Marinette so bad that she falls out of the chair.

**“What do you think you’re doing?”** Lady Wifi asks, squinting.

**“Nothing! I wasn’t doing anything!”**

**“Uh huh, so why are you out of bed and sitting at my computers?”**

**“I uhh wanted to check the score of uh the football game.  France versus England, big game,”** Marinette scrambles and thankfully lands on the one she remembers her dad talking about it the night before they went to see Les Mis.  Lady Wifi squints some more before one of the screens blinks to show the game stats.

**“Huh, didn’t peg you to be a sports enthusiast.”** Lady Wifi moves away so she’s not as close to the camera.  She looks slightly perplexed before shrugging and shifting back to her nonchalant expression.   **“Don’t know why you bother, not like you can watch any of the games from here on.”**

**“Sorry, runs in the family, you know, gotta keep track of beating England,”** Marinette says, standing up.  She leans on the back of the chair for support as Lady Wifi does something with the connection.

The screens all black out except for the stat screen and the middle screen where her face is still viewed.

**“I can’t see how watching a soccer game could mess with your training, if it gets you to stop moping. So back into bed you, and I’ll set up the feed, game ended 27 hours ago by the way.”**

Marinette swallows, not sure what to say.  She rocks on her heels and gives a lame **“Uh, thanks, Lady Wifi.”**

She snorts, **“Please, nobody calls me that except HawkMoth and his crew of hazmat’s.  And I like you so Wifi will do.”**

**“Oh, okay, Wifi.”** Marinette says, sitting on her bed.  She pulls the pillow to her chest and curls up with it.  Wifi nods approvingly and blinks out.  The image is replaced with the beginning of the game where all the players run onto the field.

Marinette watches silently and wonders if her dad watched the game.  Knowing him, though, he probably spent all this time anxious baking.  She remembers how once, when she was little, and was taking the bus for the first time on her own, she missed the first one and ended up being an hour late.  When she finally got home, she was greeted with pastries piled all over the bakery and her dad elbows deep in beating dough.  She can imagine him now, flour splashed across his face and shirt, elbows covered in sticky dough and jam in his hair.  He never could bake without making a mess when he was anxious or worried.  Marinette chokes on a sob, stray tears trickling down her cheeks.  Oh god, if she could only tell him that she was okay, if she could be with them now.  

The computer screen explodes in cheers as France makes the first goal against England.  Marinette blinks at the screen before rubbing her face angrily.  Enough moping, she thinks, she can survive this.  She will go home, she can’t give up now, she just has to get her game on.  With that thought, she watches the rest of the game in honor of her father and mentally prepares herself for what she’s going to have to go through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come follow me on [tumblr](http://princessfanonanona.tumblr.com).


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you remember me saying I needed to split the chapter so that it wasn't too long? I had to do it again, thanks for your patience while it took me forever and a half to finish this one (work and holidays got in the way). As always thanks to [consultingviking](http://consultingviking.tumblr.com) and my zucchini for all the support while I was writing this. Possible trigger warnings at the bottom.

Chapter Three

Marinette pants, gasping for air.  There’s a mask covering the lower half of her face, pumping gas to help her lungs adjust as she jogs on the treadmill.  There’s various wires taped to her, monitoring things like heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen and hydration levels.  There’s a monitor for her to look at that shows her that and a bunch of other readings she doesn’t understand next to her.  In front is a large screen with the dumb butterfly singing something awful and off key.

She’s been here for three weeks, if she’s counting right, and that butterfly is no longer cute or funny.  It’s dumb and annoying and needs to ferme ta guele.  Wifi is on another treadmill next to her and seems to be having just as much difficulty as Marinette is having currently.  Probably because she’s been at it twice as long.

**“Can we please change this dumb butterfly to something a bit more energetic and less lame?”** Marinette pants.

**“Nope, doesn’t go away, will only get more annoying,”** Wifi says.   **“Just have to endure.”**

**“I think it’s going to have to endure my fist if this keeps up,”** Marinette mutters.

Wifi laughs, **“You can't punch a cartoon.”**

**“I can punch the TV though,”** she says.

**“I wouldn't suggest that,”** a new voice says.  Marinette startles so hard that she trips off the treadmill, yanking all the wires off her.  She lands in a mess of limbs with an oof.

**“Oh jeeze, I didn't mean to startle you,”** the voice says, sounding genuinely sorry.  A hand enters her vision, which is attached to a handsome boy with blonde hair and stunning green eyes.

**“Uh, i-it it’s fine, I mean, th-thanks,”** Marinette’s face is burning as she takes his hand to stand.  Its surprisingly soft.

**“You’re the new girl, right?”** Marinette nods.   **“I'm Adrien.”**

**“I-I-I’m Ma-”**

**“Her name is Marinette and I promise she's more eloquent than this.”** Wifi cuts in from where she's still running.

**“Mind if I join in?”** Adrien asks.  Marinette nods and Wifi laughs an agreement.  Adrien gives a breathtaking smile and hops on the treadmill to the other side of Marinette.  She hooks herself back to the system and gets back to running.

**“I take it that you don't like the butterfly?”** Adrien asks.

**“Ugh, someone needs to put it out of its misery or at least get some voice lessons.”** Marinette mutters, reminded of her earlier frustrations with it.

**“That last bit, I can agree with,”** Wifi says.   **“Nothing worse than listening to someone sing badly than someone who hates singing sing badly.”**

**“No kidding?”** Adrien asks.

**“Yeah, there was a raffle to do it because no one volunteered.  So Natalie pulled a name out of a hat and we are now tortured with this.”** Wifi says.  

Adrien chuckles, **“I’m not even remotely surprised.”**

**“Whose Natalie?”** Marinette asks.

**“She’s basically the face of the AKUMA.  No one sees HawkMoth but her so everyone just does what she says,”** Wifi says.  She stops her treadmill and steps off.   **“I’m hitting the showers; I’ll catch you later.”**

**“You’re doing that surveillance thing, again today?”** Marinette asks.

**“Yeah, I'll probably be heading over by the time you're done here so I'll see you for dinner.”** Wifi waves and heads out the door.

**“Bye,”** Marinette says with a wave, panting again.

**“Later, Lady Wifi,”** Adrien says.  They run companionably for a while.   **“So, how you holding up here?”**

**“The running or the wanting to smash the TV?”** Marinette asks and then blinks realizing who she's talking to, the beginning of panic forming.  Adrien’s laugh glitters in the air despite the bitter note to it dissipating her nerves.  Marinette practically melts at the sound, forgetting what she's doing and falling off the treadmill, again.

Flailing, her foot twists awkwardly beneath her and the sound of it snapping is louder than the tv.  Marinette blinks at her twisted foot before the pain hits her like a 16-wheeler and she starts screaming.  She clutches her leg to her chest, muffling her cries.  There's a hand on her shoulder.

**“Marinette, look at me, c’mon, it's going to be okay.  Marinette, I need you to take a nice deep breath okay?”** Adrien is saying and she tries to listen to his words but it's. So. Hard.  It takes some time but she manages to calm down enough to listen fully.

**“That's it, Marinette, nice deep breaths,”** Adrien gives her a tight lipped smile as his hand shifts from her shoulder to her back.   **“I'll take you to the infirmary, put your arms around my neck.”**

Marinette nods, lacing her fingers behind his neck.  She notes, idly, how soft his hair is.  Adrien shifts, the hand on her back tightening and the other slipping beneath her knees.

**“I'm going to pick you up now, okay? 1...2…”** he stands.  She bites back the sudden pain from shifting, burying her face into his collarbone.  The jolting of the walk sends spasms up her leg.  She can hear doors being kicked open and slamming shut, until she's being carefully placed on a metal table.  Reluctantly, she lets go, curling up on the table.

Adrien moves away as someone in a hazmat suit approaches her.  She can't see their face past the shiny screen.  They grab her broken leg and yank it out from her, ripping a scream from her lungs.  She sobs as they scan her leg with something.

There's a needle in his hand, and her blood runs cold.  She fights to have her leg back, but Hazmat is stronger than her and injects the purple-black liquid into her ankle.  The pain lessens almost instantly to be replaced with a burning sensation.  Hazmat shifts her leg, pushing and prodding the bones in the ankle which makes the burning feeling itch.  She watches as he scans the ankle again, pokes and prods some more, scan again and then wrap it in a gross shade of gray cast.

Once she's released, Marinette pulls herself up and away from Hazmat.  Adrien walks up with a guilty look, holding a box of tissues, from where he was hovering by the door.  She takes the offered tissues and wipes her nose.  Her face heats up to rival the burning in her ankle as she's suddenly hyper aware of what happened.

**“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you again,”** Adrien says, rubbing the back of his neck, looking away.

**“No-n-n-no!  It wasn't you it’s just uh my own clumsiness and I just you know-”**

**“Marinette!”** The door slams open and Lady Wifi is storming in. **“I leave you alone for 5 mins and you break your ankle, can you be any more of a klutz?”**

Marinette hangs her head sheepishly, “Sorry.”  There's a prickle in her eyes as her face heats up hotter.

**“Look, it was just an accident, besides it was going to happen eventually,”** Adrien says.   **“All new comers break something at some point, it's not that big of a deal.”**

**“She's not your roommate, Blondie, if it wasn't for me, she'd have broken more than just her ankle at this point.”**

**“Whether you interfere or not doesn't make the success rates higher.  Babying is only going to make it worse.”**

**“Who do you think you are, telling me what the success rates are?  I'll have you know that I know all the data that there is to know.”**

**“Clearly not,”** Adrien mutters, looking away.  

**“Excuse me?”** Wifi fists his shirt pulling him close to glare at him. **“What is it that I don't know?”**

Adrien’s lips turn up in a cruel smirk, eyes glinting wickedly. **“Wouldn't you like to know?”**

**“I can make your life here living hell, do not test me.”** Wifi hissed.

Adrien barks a laugh, bitter and cruel and totally different from before.  He twists his hands, breaking her hold on his shirt, **“You can't make it any worse than it already is.”**  He leans forward, into her space and whispers, **“Trust me, I've already been there.”**

**“Get out.”** Lady Wifi hisses.

Adrien smirks, **“I think I'm going to stay, actually.”**  He moves to hop up on the table next to Marinette, lounging comfortably.  Wifi stares at him incredulous before spinning on her heel and storming out.

Once the door slams shut, Adrien sighs heavily, pulling out a box of tic-tacs and pops two in swallowing them dry.  Marinette stares at him, somewhat terrified.  He shakes his head roughly, as if he’s shaking himself free of something disgusting.

**“Sorry, I didn't mean to get so…”** he says after a moment, waving a hand to refer to what just happened.  He swallows awkwardly before continuing, **“The pressure here makes everyone's tempers short,”** he continues.  Marinette nods, remembering how Wifi would randomly snap at nothing.  Last week, she exploded in anger when they had run out of orange mush.  She threw several tables in her rage before disappearing for an hour.  When she returned, she was happier than Marinette could remember, singing even.

**“Here,”** Adrien offers the box of tic-tacs. **“It'll calm you down.”**

“Euh…” Marinette swallows, **“Thanks.”**  She takes one and swallows it.  

**“Is-is it true?”** Marinette asks, blinking back tears.

**“Is what true?”**

**“Th-that it doesn't matter?”** Marinette asks between hiccups.

Adrien sighs and lets his head fall against the wall.   **“Yes and no,”** he says after a length.   **“I've seen what she does with you and the babying will probably be worse for you in the long run.  But It doesn't matter, because here?”** He gestures to the building and everything around them, **“It all hangs on you, you're the only one that will define the outcome.”**

Marinette rolls the idea in her head.  It's similar to what Wifi said before.  She didn't realize how much she was dependent on the other girl.  It's Marinette’s turn to sigh.

**“I hate this,”** she says to herself.

Adrien gives a dry chuckle, **“You could say that again.”**

They sit quietly next to each other for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts.  Marinette notices that her muscles are slowly loosening and she’s feeling a little less terrified.  When the silence starts to shift to the wrong side of awkward, Adrien stands up, stretching.   **“Need help going to your room?”**

Marinette blushes suddenly, **“Uh, ye-yes pl-please.”** Adrien smiles warmly before frowning and looking around the room.  The Hazmat was nowhere to be seen.

**“Right no wheelchairs, crutches or elevators,”** Adrien rubbed the back of his head.   **“I guess I just have to carry the princess.”**  He gives her a sly smirk and a wink.  Marinette’s face heats up at the implication.

**“N-no! I-it-it’s okay, n-no need,”** Marinette says, sliding off the table and balancing on her good foot.   **“See? T-t-totally okay.”** He looks her up and down before sidestepping and gesturing an ‘after you.’  Marinette blinks and looks at the door across the room.  Taking a deep breath, she stands upright and walks forward.  Her weight isn’t even fully on the foot when it gives out from the sudden pain.  Adrien is right there to catch her.

**“Now, Princess, you don’t want to get hurt again, do you?”** Marinette’s blush burns hotter when she meets his gaze.  Adrien seems only partially shameful but otherwise completely amused.  There’s a hint of seriousness and concern in his posture - too stiff to balance his flirts.  In a single sweep, he picks her up easily.  Marinette does not squeak or flail from it (she totally does) before clinging to his neck.  His laugh bubbles up as he starts walking.   **“Relax, Marinette, I’m only teasing.”**

Marinette gives him her most suspicious look she can muster from her angle.  Adrien looks away, **“Okay, maybe only a little bit serious, I am actually concerned about your leg and further injury.”** Marinette doesn’t know what to say so she stays quiet.  Adrien glances at her face and leaves her in her thoughts.  They round the last corner leading to the cafeteria.

**“D-do you um…”** Marinette looks away, biting her lip.  Adrien waits patiently for her to finish the sentence when a voice calls out from behind them.

**“Adrien!”** Adrien turns to face a Hazmat storming over, voice strange and mechanical.  This one is larger than the others.   **“What do you think you’re doing?”**

**“I was helping the new girl to her room, she broke her ankle.”**  He responds, becoming stiff under Marinette’s hands.

**“That is not your job.”** Hazmat says.

**“I didn’t realize that the job was already taken.”**  Adrien replies.  Despite his even tone, Marinette can’t help but shiver from how cold he sounds.

**“That is none of your concern.”**

**“So, whose concern is it?”**

**“Did you just talk back to me?”**

**“Asking a question, is all.”**

**“You have other things to take care of, this is not within your priorities.  I will escort the child back to her room.”**

**“If, I, uh, could cut in, I’m not a child and I’d rather Adrien to take me.”** Marinette cuts in.  The two look at her.  She glances at green eyes that are wide in surprise and maybe a little awe.   **“No offense, but we’re nearly there anyways, it wouldn’t even take that much more of his time.”**

**“Children should know when to keep their mouths shut.”** Hazmat barks, striding closer.

**“She has a point though,”** Wifi comments, startling Marinette.  Adrien half steps to turn to look at where she’s casually walking to them.   **“Go back to whatever it is you do, Gorilla, I’ll make sure blondie here doesn’t linger.”** When she places a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, right next to Marinette’s head, she has to fight down the urge to flinch away.

**“Do not think for one moment that you three are above punishment.”** Hazmat, ‘Gorilla’ says, pointing a finger and striding away.

Once he’s out of earshot, Adrien turns, breaking free of Wifi’s hold to meet her gaze.  Marinette curls her arms tighter against herself.

**“Thanks,”** Adrien says, simply.

Wifi shrugs, **“Eh, no problem, here let me take Marinette to our room so you can do whatever Gorilla wants.”**

**“If it’s alright with you, I’ll take her, don’t want to keep you from whatever you need to do,”** Adrien gives a polite smile.  Wifi squints at him.

**“Her, Mari, what do you want?”** Wifi asks, not looking away from Adrien’s face.

**“I, uh, feel, I mean think!  Err...want.  I w-want to y’know-”** Marinette feels her face heat up again; she’s lost track of how many times she’s blushed at this point. Really, it's just one continuous blush.  She doesn’t know what to say at the moment, refusing to look at either of them.  Her hand grips the back of his neck slightly tighter causing Adrien to tighten his grip on her.  He smells like cheese, she notes distractedly.

Wifi quirks an eyebrow and smirks knowingly. **“Hmm, I guess you can take my roommate, but don't try any funny business, mister.”**

Now it's Adrien’s turn to blush, **“No! Never, we're going now.”** He turns on his heel and heads towards the cafeteria. Marinette can hear Wifi laughing echo after them.

**“So…”** Adrien says awkwardly.  Marinette tries not to fidget in his arms.   **“Lady Wifi seems to have calmed down.”**

**“Y-yeah, I guess.”** Marinette says.   **“Who's Gorilla?”**

**“One of the hazmats that work down here, none of them have names that we know of so we kids give them names,”** Adrien shrugs as he climbs the stairs.   **“Gorilla is one of the bigger ones and meaner.”**

**“I-uh I noticed.”** Marinette says.  She swallows and tries to get her brain to work to make an actual sentence.   **“H-h-have you been here long?”** She mentally curses herself, that wasn’t what she wanted to say at all.  Adrien’s face twists strangely.

He doesn’t answer right away.  He walks over to her bed and puts her down gently.   **“Since the beginning,”** he sighs and ducks his head moving to the doorway.   **“I'll see you later, Marinette.”**

**“Ye-yeah, bye Adrien.”** She waves awkwardly and he skills back before heading out.  Marinette waved awkwardly for another minute before realizing what she was doing.

Flopping backwards, she groans and covers her face with her arms.  Replaying the entire afternoon in her head, she groans again at her own inability to talk to Adrien.  What even is her deal?  Sure he had really luxuriously soft blonde hair that had to sparkle like gold in the sunlight.  And, okay, his eyes glittered like emerald oceans with hidden emotion swirling in their depths. And yeah, maybe his unbelievable strength is totally impressive and inspiring. And oh mon dieu is she crushing hard.  Well shiitake mushrooms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette breaks her ankle and gets a shot against her will (the medicine in it speeds the healing process). Lots of yelling and implications of gas lighting also occur.
> 
> As always, come ask me questions or chat with me on [tumblr](http://princessfanonanona.tumblr.com). Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So sorry for the delayed posting, life got away from me. So here it is, twice as long as my usual chapters, and filled with angst. Possible trigger spoiler warning at the bottom as usual. 
> 
> Much thanks to [consultingviking](http://consultingviking.tumblr.com), [underthesilentstars](http://underthesilentstars.tumblr.com), and my zucchini Alex who helped get this chapter straightened out and finished.

Chapter 4

**“If you're looking for tall, blonde and handsome, he's not here.”** Wifi sips the neon yellow concoction of the day.

Marinette jerks in her seat, head whipping around.   **“Who, me? I’m not looking for anyone.”**

Wifi quirks an eyebrow at her, **“Sure.”**  Marinette glares at her before resting her head on her arms with a sigh.   **“You’ve got it bad, girl.”**

**“I know,”** Marinette rolls her head to the side.  She sits up with a start, hands splayed out.   **“It’s been a month and I still haven’t seen him!  He literally pops out of nowhere, steals my heart and then disappears which makes no sense; we’re all stuck here!  Why can’t you tell me where he is?”**

Wifi glares at the drink, **“Because I can’t find him.”**

**“I thought you were all powerful over everything computerized.”**

**“I am!”** Wifi slams her fist on the table, sloshing her drink over the table startling Marinette.   **“He hasn’t left the training compound and none of my cams have seen him.”**

**“How’s that possible?”**

**“It’s not.”** The glass in Wifi’s hand shatters, slush exploding across the table.  Marinette jumps, falling off the bench in surprise.  Wifi blinks at her before standing and storming off.  

Marinette sighs, standing to clean up the mess.  At least now she understood why Wifi's fuse was shorter than normal.  From what little experience Marinette had of her roommate, she knew that Wifi hated not knowing something.  Add that to all the super gravity which made emotions run high on top of the drama that is teenagers, it’s a wonder the entire complex hasn’t collapsed.

**“Need a hand?”** A voice pulled her from her thoughts.  Looking up, Marinette met Adrien’s gaze.

“Oh god,” Marinette squeaks, dropping into her seat again and flailing her arms in surprise.  Freezing, she drops her hands to her side before offering a little wave.   **“Hi Adrien.”**

Adrien smirked, **“Hi, do you need a hand?”**

Marinette followed his gaze to the mostly cleaned table.   **“Oh, yeah, no, I got it. Thanks though.”** She pointedly drops the last dirtied napkins onto the tray to dump in the garbage.

**“No problem,”** Adrien says, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.  After a moment of awkward silence they both start talking at the same time.

**“I haven't seen-”**

**“So, how's your-”**

They blink at each other.

**“Oh, what were-”**

**“No, you first-”**

They stare at each other; Adrien looking like a fish out of water and Marinette startles herself into giggling.  When she manages to look up again, Adrien's is giving her a warm smile.

**“So what were you trying to ask me?”** Marinette asks.

**“I uh, wanted to know how your ankle is.”** Adrien says.

**“Oh,”** Marinette looks down at her foot.  She had the cast removed that morning to her surprise.   **“Good I guess, I never heard of a broken bone healing this fast.”**

Adrien shrugs, taking a seat beside her, back to the table. **“The serum they injected you with does something to the bones.  Makes it tougher and lighter while it fixes the problem.  At least that's what I've gathered.”**

**“So you don't know?”** Marinette turns on the bench to face him fully.

He shrugs again, not looking at her but tracking people moving about.   **“No one really knows anything when it comes to the injections and the mush.”**

**“I can tell you one thing, it's not made with real food,”** Marinette growls at her half-finished plate.

That startles a bark of laughter from Adrien.  Marinette blinks at him before smiling fondly.  Adrien looks at the plate before standing.

**“Let's go,”** he jerks a thumb over his shoulder.  

**“Go?”** Marinette asks.

**“Train, I want to see how far you've progressed, if you don't mind that is.”** Adrien rubs the back of his neck.

**“Oh, no, I mean, I don't mind.”** She hurries to say.

He smiles and starts to walk off.  Marinette jumps to her feet, following behind.  They detour so that she can drop the trays off before heading down the corridor leading to the track.

**“So, uh, Adrien,”** Marinette starts, poking her fingers together awkwardly.

**“Hmm…?”** His head tilts to her to show he's listening.

**“I was wondering why you haven't been around, ‘cause I haven't seen you - not that I was searching for you because that would be weird, I mean we did just meet and-”** she cuts herself off looking up with wide eyes.

Adrien's eyes crinkle in amusement.   **“I've been around,”** he says, walking into the track room.  

**“That doesn't-”** the door slams with a loud bang.  She shoves the door open and storms in, **“Stop being vague!”**

**“I'm not being vague,”** Adrien says, looking up from where he's stretching out on the ground.

Marinette frowns, **“Yes. You are.”**

Adrien opens his mouth to respond before snapping it shut as he studies her.  He turns away and pulls out the tic tacs and tosses it to her.  Surprised, she fumbles and drops it.

**“Have some, you'll feel better when you do.”**

**“I feel fine.”** Marinette states.  Adrien raises an eyebrow and moves into his next stretch.  Marinette glares at him before pointedly picking the box up and popping one into her mouth.

**“Happy?”** she asks, tossing the box back.

He catches it easily, tucking it away with a shrug. **“Stretching helps relieve some of the built up tension.”**

**“So do long walks along the Seine but I don't see any rivers here.”**

Adrien pauses in his stretches to watch her, face blank.  Marinette refuses to look at him, instead watching one of the runners run by.  After a moment, Marinette starts feeling a little bit ridiculous and moves to sit down.  Adrien resumes his stretching with her and they slowly work through the sets.

Just before finishing up, Adrien asks, “ **Are you okay?”**

Marinette shrugs, “ **I don't know what being okay even means now.”**

Adrien nods, **“It's a real shock coming here.”**

Marinette snorts, **“And I thought New York was a culture shock.”**

**“Wanna talk about it?”**

Marinette shrugs, and the two move to start jogging around the track. **“What's there to talk about?  That I miss my family?  That I want to go home?  That I'd give basically anything to not be here anymore?”**

**“It’s hard the first few months but it gets easier.  It helps to just throw yourself into training, to focus on each day as it comes.”**

Marinette doesn't answer, focusing on her running.  Adrien is matching her pace instead of the other way around which is nice compared to Wifi.  He doesn't say anything else for the next lap.

**“You said you were here since the beginning,”** Marinette says suddenly.

Adrien side eyes her but doesn't answer as two of the other runners pass by.  He makes a drawn in expression before saying, **“I was the youngest of twenty.  Before they started introducing new kids every month.  Eventually they cut back.”**

**“What happened to them?”** Marinette asks.

Adrien doesn't respond, his eyes harden and lips forming a tight line.  He ups the pace slightly, Marinette pushing to keep up.  They run in silence until Marinette pulls to a stop, gasping for air, all her muscles on fire.

Adrien places a hand at the small of her back and pushes her forward into a slow walk around the track.  Marinette lifts her arms over her head to try to alleviate the pain in her lungs.

**“Two and a half miles, not bad.”** Adrien says, sounding pleased.

**“You’re the actual worst.”** Marinette pants out, still wheezing.  

His smirk broadens into a smile. **“You only say that because it hurts now.”**

**“I'm going to be in so much pain tomorrow,”** she whines.

Adrien rubs her back as they finish up the last lap.  Marinette sucks in a deep breath and drops her arms.  Adrien steers her into a side room covered in mats.

**“Have you started defensive training yet?”** Adrien asks.

Marinette shakes her head, **“Not really, just basic movements.”**

**“Okay, so just mirror me then.”** He shifts his weight, planting himself.  Once Marinette is in a similar position, he leads her through the different motions.  When she has the basic set down, Adrien starts nudging her into better positions and giving her tips.  When he became satisfied with that, he has her do it faster, again nudging her and pointing out how to fix certain postures.

He has her increase the speed again before adding on more forms.  By the time he’s satisfied with her, Marinette’s soaked to the bone and as sore as if she were run over by a 16 wheeler.  

**“You picked up the katas really well,”** Adrien says.

Marinette collapses on to the mats, **“Is that what they're called?”**

**“Yeah, some schools refer to them as forms.  Basically they're the basic movements of a fighting technique to train muscle memory and instinct.”**

**“Oh, that's cool.”**

Adrien tugs her heels with his foot, straightening her out. **“It's pretty impressive, actually.”**

**“The pattern is easy to remember.  What are we doing?”** Marinette asks as he matches his heels up with hers.  She blinks at him when he offers his hands to her.

**“Stretches,”** he offers her a small smile as he takes her hands and pulls her forward, **“Don't let your knees bend.”**

Marinette feels her already flushed face burn hotter.  She ducks her head to hide the grin splitting her face.  By the time she managed to school her expression again, it was her turn to pull Adrien forward.

**“Just how far can you bend?”** She asks.

He gave her a crooked smirk before touching his stomach to the floor. **“Quite far,”** he answers, voice muffled by the floor.

“Sweet cheese and crackers,” Marinette breathes.   **“How does that not hurt?”**

Adrien lifts a little to look at her again, the smell of cheese hitting her nose, before glancing away with a shrug, **“Lots of practice and lots of patience.”**

She wrinkles her nose at that.

Adrien glances back at her and shifts away to stand.   **“We, uh, should finish up.”**

**“Sure,”** Marinette stands and they move through the rest of the stretches quickly.

On the walk back to the showers, Adrien takes a different route than usual.

**“I've never been down this hallway,”** she comments.

**“Somehow, I'm not surprised,”** he says, rounding the corner.  The hallway is curved slightly, with the inner wall being completely glass.  Marinette gapes at the sprawling city below.

Marinette presses her hands to the glass, **“What is this?”**

**“The training ground,”** Adrien says. On the far side is a small explosion of smoke.   **“C’mon, this isn't the only one.”**

**“You have multiple cities down here? How is there even space for all of this?”**

Adrien shrugs, **“We're located under a mountain, if they need more space, they just dig it out.”**

**“Weird,”** Marinette says as they walk away from the city.

The hallway twists again, on the opposite side is a small town surrounded by trees.  The next one is a rocky mountainside.  The hallway wraps around this one to show the other side; a waterfall and a tremendous drop which disappears into a black hole.

**“How is this training?”** Marinette asks, gesturing to the waterfall and city.

**“Depends, usually to test how your individual skills hold up.”**

Marinette doesn't know what to say to that so she continues to watch the water pound the rocks.   **“Its really quiet here, I mean, I would never guess that there’s a waterfall meters away from my face.”**

Adrien makes a noncommittal noise which draws Marinette’s gaze to his reflection in the glass.  He has a sad expression as he watches her.  Making eye contact, he startles before turning swiftly and walking on.  She hurries after him, falling into step.

The two are quiet as they walk down a curved hallway to an elevator.  Adrien pulls out a card, sliding it in the slot and the doors open.  He stands aside to let her step in first.

**“What's with the card?”** She asks, noticing that buttons run upside down, one being on top and ten on the bottom.

Adrien pushes the ten, **“Certification. You'll get one if you make it two years.”**

**“Where are we going?”** Marinette side eyes him, feeling a little uneasy.  Why was he taking her to a restricted area?

**“I want to show you something.”** He says, settling against the wall next to him.

**“Why?”**

**“...”**

**“Why, Adrien?”**

He puffs out a long sigh before popping more tic tacs.  “Listen,” he says quietly, the French startling her to looking at him properly.  He looks up to meet her gaze, eyes earnest.  “You may come to hate me, and I won't blame you, but you should know what’s at the end of this rabbit hole.  You need to know to prepare.  Because in order to come out alive, you're going to have to do things you're going to regret and I think it's best if you know now what you're facing.”

Marinette opens her mouth to ask something but the doors open and he's tugging her forward.  In front of her is a railing circling a dropped area with a single lamp illuminating the pit.  Kids are scattered around the circle, watching silently.  Adrien pulls her to an open area, placing a hand on the small of her back as he glares at a different group. Marinette doesn't even spare a glance to the group, her gaze glued to the scene below her.

There are two kids fighting each other.  Blood scattered across the floor and walls.  The boy is tall and bulky, swinging a spiked club. His hair is slicked down on one side and shining under the light.  The girl is tiny in comparison, a whip in her hand.  She’s jumping out of the way and landing on everything but her left leg that drags.  They couldn't be much older than her.

The two scuffle neither getting a good hit in until the girl’s whip tangles on the club.  

The girl pulls on the whip, yanking the club.  The boy shifts his grip, jerking the girl closer who twists oddly.  She ends up on his back, legs around his neck like a piggyback.  She twists again, bending backwards, the weight of her pulling him off balance when a sickening crunch is heard.  The boy drops and the girl doesn’t hesitate to walk away.  There’s no applause.  There's no cheers nor noise.  She uses the whip to climb out of the pit.

Marinette stares numbly at the boy laying in the pit.  

“Of the twenty-one of us, I was the only one to make it out of the ring.” Adrien’s voice is barely a whisper in her ear.

She jerks hard, twisting to stare at him; dread filling her stomach.  She feels sick.  She feels trapped; pinned between the railing and Adrien.  It's too small around her.

Adrien seems to understand and he’s directing her away into a different room.  She spots the toilets and empties everything in her stomach.  She's crying, the tears burning her cheeks.  

The door closes with a soft click, it barely registers. There's a hand on her back, she jerks hard. “Don't touch me,” she snarls. It sounds broken and nasally to her own ears but the hand withdraws.  She doesn't want to move. She wants this nightmare to end. She wants to be home in bed with her parents. She can't go back out there and be expected to hurt someone-to ki-

She dry heaves before she can finish the thought.  Eventually, her sobs fade into hiccups and sniffles.  Her foot is numb, she shifts and bumps into something.  There's a water bottle beside her.  She downs it.

Finished, she turns away from the toilet, to lean against the wall.  She spots Adrien out of the corner of her eye.  He's leaning against the wall next to the sink, head bowed.  He glances up at her through his bangs before looking back down at his shoes.

The room is bigger than what she originally thought; there’s a full shower on the wall opposite and a wall of shelves with bandages and medical supplies.  

Marinette blinks tiredly at the ceiling, head resting on the wall.  She takes a shaky breath that gets caught in her throat.  She wants to go home.  She needs to be alive to do so.  She swallows past the lump and takes a deep breath.

“Wh-when does - when do I-” Marinette asks, voice hoarse and wrung out.

“Two years to the day you arrived.” Adrien answers, looking at her fully.

She nods once.  He doesn’t say anything more, looking away at the shower.  She focuses on getting her breath even.

“W-what happens…” she tries to ask.

“Happens to what?”

“To - to the b-bo-” she can't say the words.

“Don't go there,” he steps slowly and softly to crouch next to her.  “Don't do that to yourself.”

Marinette sucks in a breath, squeezing her eyes shut. There's a gentle hand on her knee.

“Mari, you can't think about that.  Focus on the here and now.  Focus on you.”

Her eyes snap open as she snaps her head to glare at him. “Who put you in control of my life? Who said you could just come in here and tell me how I'm supposed to think?”

Adrien's eyes widen slightly, “Just trying to help.”

She feels her blood boil, she lunges at him without thinking. He rolls easily to let her pin him to the floor, hands fisted in his shirt.  There’s a small voice in her head that realizes he's letting her.

“I never asked for help,” she hisses.  

“Those big blue eyes of yours say otherwise.” He counters.

“What do you know?”

“I know what’s obvious to everyone here: you're terrified and alone.  We've all gone through it.  We've all been there.”

“What good is making friends and helping each other if we just end up killing each other?”

“Because it’s worse watching someone fade away.  Because it’s better to give them a fighting chance.”

“Do you do this to everyone then?  Give them your twisted lecture?”

“No,” he sighs, reaching up to brush her cheek, “Just you.”

Marinette freezes.  “Why me?” she whispers.

He frowns in thought before saying, “Because your smile reminds me of my mom.”  His face is bright red and he's not looking at her.  He blinks and his eyes shine, “Be-because for the longest time, I-I lived for her.”  His face hardens as he grips her hands tightly.  “I had- I forgot why...that is...un-until I saw you.”

Marinette gapes openly at that.  Marinette.exe not found. Hard reboot needed.  

“I know it a lot to take in, I know it’s terrifying and insane,” he says.  He takes a deep breath and looks at her, “But let me help, please.”

Marinette.exe still not found.  She shakes her head, not understanding.  It’s all too much.

He sits up and suddenly she's straddling his lap with his arm around her waist and his face is so close and wow his eyes actually sparkle like emeralds.  How is that fair?  Why must he do a number on her heart?  (And brain for that matter) Why?

Before either can say anything, the door slams open.  Three boys walk in; the largest leans against the door with his arms crossed.  The second boy is tall and lean, towering in the small room.  The last boy snivels at the pair on the floor.

**“Well, well, well what have we here?”** The last boy sneers. He’s tiny in comparison to the two behind him.

**“What do you want, George,”** Adrien asks, sliding Marinette off to stand.

**“You know damn well my name is Gëorgie,”** the boy says.

**“Maybe we should call him Adeline,”** the tall boy smirks. **“Maybe that will make him get it right.”**

**“You flatter me, I’ve never had a prettier name,”** Adrien splays his hands out, pushing Marinette behind.   **“Might I return the favor and name you after the Briar Roses that my mother grew?”**

‘Briar Rose’ wrinkles his nose in distaste, **“Was that before or after-”**

**“Shut up, Brian,”** Gëorgie snaps.

**“You shouldn’t be so mean to your friends, George,”** Adrien says.

**“It’s Gëorgie!”** He screams, stomping his foot. **“My name is Gëorgie!”** He pauses to pop a tic tac into his mouth.  After a moment, he straightens, slicking his hair back.   **“Enough of your games, we’re here to have a little chat.”**

**“Could we potentially move this elsewhere?”** Adrien asks.

**“Why? Afraid to show your little friend who you really are?”** Gëorgie sneers.

**“Nah, I’m just concerned about Kyle’s claustrophobia.”**

**“Nice try, I’m curious though, what would happen if the suits were to find you breaking protocol again.”**.

**“Hmm, probably not as bad as that time you poisoned your roommate in his sleep.”** Adrien says coolly.

Gëorgie shrugs, **“I was experimenting with one of my newer poisons, he was simply a test subject.”**

**“Test subject?!”** Marinette explodes.  She moves to confront him but Adrien catches her elbow preventing her from getting close. **“What’s wrong with you?  How could you possibly -”**

Gëorgie slaps her across the face, knocking her sideways. **“How dare you question me, you little -”**

Adrien punches him in the face, knocking Gëorgie into the tall dude.   **“Don’t touch her.”**

**“Oh, this is too good,”** Gëorgie mocks, rubbing his cheek.   **“You actually care for the little bitc-”**

Adrien lands a kick, cutting off the insult.  Brian leaps onto Adrien’s back and they land hard on the floor, rolling.  Kyle jumps into the fray with a shout.  Marinette stumbles away, pressing against the wall under the shower as the boys dissolve into a fighting mess.  Brian is eventually pushed out of the tangle of bodies, stumbling against the sink. Kyle manages to pin Adrien and aims a punch at Adrien’s face.  Adrien ducks his head, twisting out of the hold to gain leverage to buck the larger boy up to get space in between them to kick him away.  Kyle knocks into Gëorgie who drops a bunch of vials releasing clouds of smoke.  At this point, Brian was in the process of tackling Adrien who rolled with it to send Brian over his shoulder and into the other two.

**“Hold your breath,”** Adrien hissed, gripping her wrist. Marinette covered her nose and mouth with her hand as she was tugged out of the bathroom.  The smoke clung to her skin, stinging at the contact.  He didn’t let go of her until they were elevator with the door closed.

He dropped her hand as if it burned him, and pressing himself into the corner farthest from her.  The ascent was slower than the descent.  Or maybe it was the adrenaline pumping in her veins.  

**“What the bloody hell was that?”**  She snaps at him.  Adrien didn’t answer.  Marinette frowns, before rubbing her arm, hissing at the itchy-burn feeling.

**“Are you okay?”** He asks, eyes zeroing in on her arm.

**“I’m fine, no thanks to you,”** she snaps.

**“I’m sorry,”** he says quietly.  Marinette doesn’t say anything.  She stares at the number over the door go down.

When it finally stops and the doors open, it’s to Lady Wifi looking beyond mad.  Marinette storms past her without greeting, aiming to find the closest shower and then bed.

Wifi grabs her stinging arm, stopping her effectively.  Marinette yelps, yanking her arm away.  Adrien hovers at the elevator doors looking more unsure than she thought possible.

**“What happened?”** Wifi snaps.

**“Nothing,”** Marinette says, holding the arm.

**“Nothing my butt.  You look like someone killed your puppy and blondie, here, looks like he had a fight with a bulldog and lost.  What. Happened.”**

Marinette looked at Adrien.  Wifi wasn’t far off; there was a solid bruise forming on the side of his face, scrapes ran up and down his arms, there was a small streak of blood across his knuckles.  He was staring at her hurt arm with a drawn in expression, hunched in on himself.  It was unnerving after seeing him confident and sassy; after the cocky display downstairs, it was like he was a different person.  A few of the puzzle pieces slotted together.  

**“How many days have I been here?”** Marinette asks instead.

Wifi blinks at the non sequitur.   **“What?”**

**“How many days have I been here?”** She repeats, looking at Wifi.  

**“36, now are you going to tell me what in the world happened?”**  She crosses her arms, impatient.

Marinette does some mental math, holding up her hand in the universal give-me-a-moment gesture.  Adrien looks confused when she steps into his space.  She searches his face for a moment.

**“I don’t know what you were trying to pull back there, but if there’s one thing I learned it’s that you’re right; if I’m to get out of this rat hole alive, I need help.  So help me learn to fight, teach me to survive here.”**

Adrien studies her for a moment before the ghost of his smirk appears.   **“As you wish, princess.”**

Marinette nods, turns on her heel, grabbing Wifi’s wrist and begins the walk back down the long hallway.

**“Mari…”** Wifi starts, sounding closer to exploding.

**“Tomorrow, Wifi; tomorrow I will explain everything.  Please, just let me shower and sleep and I will give you all the details.”** Marinette says, looking at her with bigs eyes.  

Wifi considers her for a moment before nodding, **“Tomorrow.”**

Marinette sighs, today was too long.  Is it possible to sleep for a week?  She wants to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible trigger warnings: blood mention, OC death, murder mention.
> 
> If someone finds something else that you want me to list, please don't be afraid to ask.  
> Come bother me on [tumblr](http://princessfanonanona.tumblr.com), I'm open to all questions and commentary. If you just want to scream at me to write faster, you can do that too.


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